Calmus ensemble opens 2008 Madeleine Festival

photo courtesy of the Calmus Ensemble

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The Calmus Ensemble of Leipzig, Germany, currently on a tour of the United States, will open the 2008 Madeleine Festival of the Arts and Humanities Sunday, April 6. The a capella group will perform the works of J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Heinrich Schütz, Max Reger, Kurt Thomas and Hugo Distler. The doors of the Cathedral of the Madeleine will open at 7:15 p.m. for an 8 p.m. performance. The event is free and open to the public. 

SALT LAKE CITY — The 2008 Madeleine Festival of the Arts and Humanities will open at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, with a performance by the five member a capella vocal group Calmus Ensemble from Leipzig, Germany. The Calmus Ensemble is currently on a United States tour which will also take them to Yale University, Atlanta, and Chicago. The four (male) original members of this international award winning ensemble are all graduates of Leipzig’s distinguished Thomasschule (St. Thomas School) which was founded in the 13th century and most famously directed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the 18th century. The ensemble was joined two years after being founded by soprano Anja Lipfert to expand the group’s vocal range.

The evening’s concert will feature sacred works from the Gregorian period through the 20th century by composers J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Heinrich Schütz, Max Reger, Kurt Thomas and Hugo Distler.

The public is welcome and this event is free of admission charge. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. for 8 p.m. performance.

Location: The Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City.